Road

This site is located in the industrial peatlands of Clooneeny Bog. It was first recorded in the 2013 Reassessment Peatland Survey as severely machine-damaged roundwood and brushwood elements, visible on the field surface for 15m (Whitaker 2014). On excavation in 2014 (licence 14E0256) it was revealed to be a poorly preserved hurdle togher. A fragment of hazel was used for AMS dating and returned a result of cal. 164 BC-AD 51 (UBA 26559). The hurdle togher was orientated N-S. Very little peat remained over the site, and it was underlain by moderately humified Sphagnum peat. The togher consisted of nine fragmentary E-W orientated sails, placed 0.12-0.2m apart, which had a maximum surviving length of 0.75m. A fairly dense arrangement of N-S orientated rods was found between the sails. The densest part of the site was contained within the N extent of the cutting, and measured 2.9m in length and 0.75-1.58m in width. The sails from the hurdle togher were mainly identified as hazel, with one ash and one alder sample noted. Compiled by: Tim Coughlan/Jane Whitaker/Femke Vleeshouwer Date of upload: 25/02/2020